Educational Science

Rosetta Probe Gets Rare Close-Up of Comet Eruption (Video)

Europe's Rosetta spacecraft has captured dramatic imagery of a comet outburst that may have been caused by a landslide on the icy body. The outburst occurred Feb. 19 on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which Rosetta has been orbiting since August 2014. The spacecraft observed the eruption of gas and dust with nine...

Bizarre Cometlike Alien Planet Is First of Its Kind

A Neptune-size planet appears to be masquerading as a comet, with a gargantuan stream of gas flowing behind it like a comet's tail. The bizarre find is the first of its kind ever discovered by astronomers. The strange, cometlike planet, known as GJ 436b, is orbiting a red dwarf star...

The New Year's Eve Comet that's been streaking across the sky this December isn't the only otherworldly visitor ringing in the new year in Earth's neighborhood. Wednesday (Dec. 28), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted a video about Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková, which has been growing more prominent in the sky since Dec....

Weird Tailless Comet, First Ever Seen, Is a Building Block of Earth

A new kind of comet that is nearly tailless has been discovered — and the surprises don't stop there. The new comet recently returned from the edge of the solar system but may have originated much closer to the sun, scientists say. In fact, it may even reveal clues about...

Bagging a Comet? The Craziest Ways to Give Earth Its Water Supply

Earth is bathed in water, but will there be enough for everyone in the future? The question doesn't have an easy answer. Humans are drawing down the resource too quickly for it to be replenished, which could lead to conflict and natural catastrophes, experts said April 27 at the 15th...

A Comet Did It! Mystery of Giant Crater Solved

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:55 p.m. E.T. The origins of a massive 1.8 billion-year-old crater in Canada has been revealed The Sudbury Basin, which is the world's second-largest impact crater, was likely formed by an enormous comet that battered Earth more than 1.8 billion years ago, new...

Philae Lander's 'Lost' Grave Found on Comet

The final resting place of the European comet lander Philae is a mystery no more. After nearly two years of searching, the lander's shadowy grave on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has been found in images from its mothership Rosetta. The European Space Agency's Philae lander touched down on Comet 67P (as scientists...

It's Alive! Comet Lander Philae Phones Home After Months of Silence

A European probe that made a bouncy landing on a comet last year, and then slipped into a silent hibernation, is alive again and phoning home. The European Space Agency's Philae comet lander, which dropped onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft last November, beamed an 85-second wake-up message to...

Building Blocks of Life Found in Comet's Atmosphere

For the first time, scientists have directly detected a crucial amino acid and a rich selection of organic molecules in the dusty atmosphere of a comet, further bolstering the hypothesis that these icy objects delivered some of life's ingredients to Earth. The amino acid glycine, along with some of its...

Incoming Comet to Buzz Earth in Historic Close Flyby

A comet will zoom past Earth Tuesday morning (March 22) in a close encounter of historic proportions. Comet P/2016 BA14, which you can see in this video of the object and its orbit, will come within 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) of the planet at about 10:30 a.m. EDT...